Building construction.



No. 729,913. I PATENTED JUNE 2, 1903.

J. P. ANQELL.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20. 1903.

PATENT Patented June 2, 1903.

Fries,

JOSEPH P. ANGELL, OF PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 29,913, dated June 2,1903. Application filed January 20.1903. Serial No. 139,779. (No model.)

To. all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH P. ANGELL, of Pine Bluff, in the county ofJefferson, and in the State of'Arkansas, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Building Constructions; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is aground plan of a building em-. bodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is avertical section of the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a building structure comprisingor containing a group of stores or apartments for other purposes, whichwill enable the same to, be guarded against fire or burglary at aminimum expense and which, in the case of stores more particularly, willpermit a better dis play of the things ofiered for sale than' with theordinary construction; and to this end my invention consists in thebuilding having the features of construction substantially ashereinafter specified.

In the carrying of my invention into practice my building constructioncomprises a group or block of houses or structures A placed side byside, the side walls B thereof radiating from or substantially from acommon center, the form of each house or structure in plan being thusone with its side walls diverging from each other outward. The

form of the block or group of buildings may,; as shown in Fig. 1, becircular, or it could be square or other shape, and should it be desiredto equalize the floor-space, Where a shape other than circular isemployed, such can be done by making the shorter houses orv units orthose of less depth widerthan the others. be built of as many stories asis desirable and the structures may be of any materials preferred.

At the center of the, group or the point from which the side wallsradiate is a house of tower form, divided horizontally into compartmentsor stores, comprising at it lowest part a cistern C, a cellar Dabove'the cistern for fuel, a room E on the ground-floor for suchmachinery and apparatus as may be Of course each. house or unit maynecessary for supplying power for light and ventilation and for heat tothe houses or apartments A; next, a room F for a guard or watchman, suchroom F having a circular series of windows at a convenient height, whichcommand all of the houses A, and above the room F other rooms may beprovided, if found desirable. Preferably the house or structure issurmounted by a watertank G. The cistern 0 at the bottom of thiscentrally-located structure is provided to receive and contain drainageor other water that may find its way into the cellars of the houses A,pipes H being run from such cellars to the cisterns and the bottoms ofthe cellars of the houses A being inclined downward from the outer endsor fronts of said houses inward, so that the water will gravitate to thebacks of the houses and pass into and through the pipeswhich lead to thecistern.

The fronts and backs of the houses A will be made as largely of glass asis possible, so that their interiors may be seen from the outside. Itwill therefore be evident that with the radiating walls a watchman inthe watch or guard room F in an exceedingly short space of time can lookinto all the houses A, so that attempts at burglary could be quicklydetected, and should fire break out it could be promptly discoveredbefore gaining sufficient headway to make it dangerous. Thus not onlycan a large number of houses be kept under careful watch-but a muchsmaller number of watchmen is required than with the ordinaryconstruction of buildings, so that the expense of watching is greatlylessened and the watching is more eificiently done. For protectionagainst fire suitable apparatus for theme of the watchman can beprovided, so that it will be in his power to extinguish any fire that hemight discover,

and the watch-house is of such construction as" to render it impossiblefor unauthorized entrance into it to be effected, the watchman thus notbeing exposed tothedanger of at tack, as is the case of the ordinarypatrolman.

Besides the advantages which have been mentioned the employment ofradiating walls for stores is of special value, since the greatestfloor-space is at the front of the store,

Where it is most needed, and goods upon the side shelves of the storereceive better light and more of them can be seen from the front of thestore by reason of the convergence of the Walls toward the back of thestore.

Of course a passage-Way for vehicles from outside the building to insidethe same Will be provided, it of course having suitable gates or doorsfor closing it.

I do not restrict my invention to buildings for any particular purpose,as my invention is adapted for the construction of buildings for stores,factories, dwelling-houses, &c.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is- 1. A group or blockof adjoining buildings having side walls radiating from a common point,and end Walls constructed to render the interiors of the buildingsvisible from such point, and a separate and independent build- 20 ing atsuch point.

2. A circular series of buildings or apartin cuts having side Wallsradiating from a common point, and end Walls constructed to ren- JOSEPHP. ANGELL.

Witnesses:

DAVE L. FRANKLIN, GUY JOHN.

